Bakers Bake Bread, Accountants Manage

So I Became A Publisher By Mistake - Well, Not Quite By Mistake, Because I Wanted To Be An Editor But I Had To Make Sure The Magazine Would Survive. The Point Is This: Most Businesses Fail, So If You're Going To Succeed, It Has To Be About More Than Making Money.

Of Course, A Lot Of Businesses Want To Reach Students, So I Funded The Magazine By Selling Advertising. I Sold Something Like $8,000 Worth Of Advertising For The First Edition, And That Was In 1966. I Printed Up 50,000 Copies, And I Didn't Even Have To Charge For Them On The Newsstand Because My Costs Were Already Covered.

Fun Is At The Core Of The Way I Like To Do Business And It Has Been Key To Everything I've Done From The Outset. More Than Any Other Element, Fun Is The Secret Of Virgin's Success. I Am Aware That The Ideas Of Business As Being Fun And Creative Goes Right Against The Grain Of Convention, And It's Certainly Not How The They Teach It At Some Of Those Business Schools, Where Business Means Hard Grind And Lots Of 'discounted Cash Flows' And Net' Present Values'.

Take A Chance - It's The Best Way To Test Yourself, Have Fund And Push Boundaries.

I Think Business Leaders All Over The World Should Not Just Think Of How We Can Make Lots Of Money, Which Is Fine, But To Take Some Of The Problems In The World And Get Out There And Tackle Them Using Business. I Think That If Businesses Do That We Can Get On Top Of These Problems.